Mexico City Offers Free Honeymoon to Argentina’s First Gay Married Couple
Seizing the opportunity to fly its gay-friendly flag, Mexico City has offered a free honeymoon to the first gay married couple in Argentina, which approved same-sex marriage in the Senate on July 15th and is firmly supported by President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Don’t go rushing to Buenos Aires to be first in line just to win a free Mexican honeymoon, though, the first marriage license is already spoken for. Argentina’s first gay marriage is set for August 13 between actor Ernesto Rodriguez Larrese, 60, and Alejandro Vanelli, 61, who have lived together for 34 years.
Mexico City authorities offered a free honeymoon trip to the Mexican capital and a major resort beach in the country. The city government would pay the air fares for the newly-wed couple and is seeking sponsorship from hotels and restaurants to finance the rest of the honeymoon, said Alejandro Rojas, the city’s tourism secretary. The offer was “a recognition of tolerance, but first and foremost a way to promote gay tourism in Mexico”.
A few notes about gay life and marriage in Mexico:
Homosexuality has never been explicitly banned in Mexico. In 1991, the Mexico Constitution was amended to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, among other factors.
Same-sex civil unions were legalized in Mexico City in November 2006. Months later, on January of 2007, the state of Coahuila granted legal same-sex civil unions, essentially making civil unions legal in all of Mexico (by law, each Mexican state must recognize the laws granted to individuals of other states).
On December 21, 2009, the Mexico City assembly approved a measure legalizing same-sex marriage, making it the first Latin American locale to do so. The city’s definition of marriage is now gender neutral. The new language reads “the free uniting of two people” adjusted from the previous “one man and one woman. The law also allows gay couples to adopt children.
Mexico City, specifically the Zona Rosa area (called the Pink Zone), is the most progressive of all Mexican regions in terms of gay rights and social acceptance. Guadalajara, Mexico second- largest metropolis, also has a thriving gay scene with nearly two-dozen gay bars as well as gay-friendly colonial B&Bs and plenty of welcoming restaurants and cafes, the majority of them within easy walking distance of the central Plaza Tapatia. Other popular gay destinations are Puerto Vallarta, Cancun, Acalpuco, and Cabo San Lucas. Opposition to gay marriage comes in more conservative regions of Mexico, such as the states of Puebla and Jalisco.
